Overheating saga

[Made in USA]

As promised, here is the complete book on getting my ZR-1 to run cool again.

It all started about 3 years ago, and looking back I'm not sure why it started occurring all of a sudden. I had drained the coolant (can't remember why at this point) and decided to change the thermostat since it was easy at that point. Ever since then, the car started running warmer so I figured I had just gotten a bad thermostat and would get around to replacing it with the old one. Moral of that story: don't fix what ain't broken.

I kept driving it and it seemed to run warmer and warmer each time, until finally after 6-7 miles it was on the brink of overheating. It was now near winter, so I just stopped driving it and figured I would get to it sometime before the next summer. Well life got busy, and come the next spring I tried to drive it....same overheating symptoms, and now no time to mess with it myself.

It sat for about a year with very little driving, just started it up now and then to hear it run and keep things loose. Last summer I decided it was time to get it back on the road but still no time to mess with it myself, so I sent it to Dealer A and told them I wanted the thermostat replaced. Well, they got it and immediately told me it wasn't the thermostat as there is plenty of water flow in the radiator and oh by the way, the car is running poorly (it wasn't) due to a bad coil. I let out a heavy sigh and against my better judgment I told them to replace the coil and forced them to replace the thermostat. They were convinced it was now running cooler due mostly to the new coil. Only problem was, it was no better at all, and now after I got it home it's leaking fuel. I sent it on a flat bed back to them, they took it back apart and said they had messed up on the fuel rail o rings.

I got it back, still running warm after 6-7 miles no matter the outside temperature, and then it started leaking fuel again. This time it was the fuel pressure regulator (this had happened before), and rather than send it back again I took it apart myself and put in a new FPR. Then I noticed that Dealer A had put the plenum back on and pinched the vacuum line to the climate controls, and swore several times never to take it back to a dealer again. I got it back together, and it's running fine but still warm after 6-7 miles. I started thinking terrible thoughts about selling it, and finally decided to just let it sit again.

This spring, after contemplating the situation I decided it's got to be the radiator, probably plugged up from sucking up road debris as all C4's do, so I bought a new one and started tearing things apart to replace it. I got frustrated and had no time to work on it so I decided to ship it off to Dealer B to finish the job (against my better judgment again). They got the radiator replaced fine, but tried to start it and told me they couldn't get it to run. I let them diagnose it for $70, and they told me it needed a needed a new ignition module, but there was not one available anywhere, since the engine was made in Japan by Yamaha and they had long since discontinued making parts....well that got things boiling....my blood. So I told them stop working on it and sent a truck to pick it back up.

The cable providing power to the ignition module was loose, so I tightened it and it started right up. Now came the real test...I drove it and the temperature gauge went up about halfway and STAYED there ! The next day I drove it through Boulder in 98 degree weather and stop and go traffic to boot, it never got the least bit warm. Then even up Boulder canyon to over 8000'...the problem was definitely the radiator.

Sorry for the book but I've been wanting to write that all down hahaha